280 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



posing they do at all. Cultivators who have not had much experience 

 in growing hard-wooded plants, forget the difference between them 

 and those belonging to the soft-wooded section. Many plants belong- 

 ing to the latter may have the leaves hanging over the sides of the 

 pots apparently half dead, a good watering will set them to rights 

 again in the course of half an hour ; but in plants like the epacris, 

 flagging represents so much serious injury just in proportion to the 

 extent of the mischief. 



In giving a few hints upon their management, I think I shall be 

 able to show that what is most wanted in dealing with them is not 

 so much first-rate skill as constant attention, though I shall say a 

 few words about propagation. I should advise my readers to go to 

 some respectable nursery where they are grown, and buy nice little 

 plants about three years old. They cost but a trifle, and it is much 

 better than bothering with striking them, and then having to wait 

 several years before they get to any size. The propagating is the most 

 difficult part of the whole business, and unless any one has had some 

 jDractice in propagating hard-wooded plants, the chances are ten to 

 one against their rooting the cuttings after they are put in. The 

 best cuttings are obtained from the young shoots, which push after 

 the plants are cut back. The general way of dealing with them 

 where they are propagated extensively, is to cut a plant back, and 

 place it in a gentle warmth of about 50°. Tlie plants soon break, 

 and directly the young shoots get rather firm, they are taken off. 

 They should be about two or three inches long, and inserted about 

 half their length in the soil of the cutting pot. The foliage should 

 be trimmed off the portion which will be beneath the soil. The pots 

 are prepared for their reception by half filling a five-inch pot with 

 crocks, then up to within half an inch of the rim with peat and sand 

 well mixed together, and on the top of this half an inch of sand. 

 The soil and sand must be made firm, and after the cuttings are in- 

 serted firmly, the pots must be covered with bell-glasses, and plunged 

 in a mild bottom-heat. They will require frequent attention in the 

 way of watering, shading, and keeping the glasses wiped, to prevent 

 the condensed moisture running down the sides, and rotting the 

 cuttings. It follows, as a matter of course, that these must be potted 

 off after they are nicely rooted. Small 60's are quite large enough ; 

 from these they must be shifted into five-inch, then into eight-inch, 

 and from them into twelve-inch pots. 



One shift will be quite sufficient for the whole season, and the 

 most suitable season for doing this is just after they begin to make 

 the new growth. "When the plants have done flowering, cut them 

 back, and place in a warm, close corner of the greenhouse until they 

 begin to break, and have made young growths about an inch in 

 length. They should be then taken out of the pots and repotted, 

 and placed in a pit, if it can be epared, and kept rather close until 

 the roots begin to get established in the new soil. "When they are 

 nicely rooted, give plenty of air, and after the growth is completed, 

 stand them out of doors to ripen the young wood, and thus promote 

 the abundant formation of flower-buds. In September replace in 

 the greenhouse, and give plenty of air. They are very impatient of 



